Did Your Parents Ever Leave You in the Car Alone? Mine Did
Was my mom a bad mom for doing it?
One thing that I think has changed big time since we were all younger is that today most parents would never even think about leaving their kids in the car alone for any period of time right? If a parent did what my mom did today, she would get parent shamed bigtime, right? So dangerous, but when I was younger it was more than acceptable.
Anytime my mom had to go shopping when I was younger, I would always ask her if I could stay in the car while she went into the store. I HATED shopping with her, she was the type of shopper that would take forever in the grocery store, and if she had to go to Sears or a store like that, FORGET IT! It was forever!...LOL! Most times she would let me stay in the car while she went into the store as long as I promised not to get out of the car and not touch anything. Was my mom a bad mom?
Did anyone else have parents that let them stay in the car while they shopped?
Lots of parents did it including Judy from Stone Ridge who texted us, "About 20 yrs ago I left my 4 kids in the car while I ran in a convenience store to grab a gallon of milk. I could see the car from inside the store. I had to wait to pay for a minute or two. When I came out there was a woman by my car and proceeded to scream at me for being an irresponsible mother."
Collen from Wappingers Falls texted, "My mom used to leave us in the car ALL the time .. running in for groceries..buy cigarettes..liquor store ... today I would NEVER leave my son alone .. never!"
Today it is not something parents should do!
Luke texted us, " My 9-year-old daughter told me last weekend that when she and mommy went to the store the other day that mom let her stay in the car alone while she grocery shopped. I was like WHAT??? I asked her how long was she in the car and she said like 20 minutes. Why the heck would she think it's ok to do this? She has to be the only mom that would ever do this. I asked my wife about it and she said that she’s old enough to sit alone for a few, but did tell me she won’t do it anymore because it bothers me so much."
I think that the best advice we can give is that it's not a good idea to ever leave the kid's in the car alone in today's world. Next time you stop at a convenience store for something, take a look around the parking lot and I can almost guarantee that you will see some parents that still do it. We got a text from a mom who asked to remain anonymous, she told us that "if someone stole my car, they would bring my kid back right away anyway!"